Family health more important than football - Watford's Deeney

(Reuters) - Watford skipper Troy Deeney says he will put his family’s health before football and has raised concerns about the Premier League’s plans to restart the campaign disrupted by COVID-19.

The 31-year-old was part of a conference call this week with the Professional Footballers Association, Premier League chiefs and the government on safety measures surrounding Project Restart, which envisages a return to play in June.

Those plans were given a boost on Thursday when Britain’s Culture and Sport secretary Oliver Dowden said the government was “opening the door” for football to return next month but Deeney said he was against a quick restart.

“I’m not even talking about football at the moment — I’m talking about my family’s health. If I feel that I’m not looking after my family, then I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to put my family at risk,” Deeney said on Instagram.

“What are they going to do, take money off me? I’ve been broke before so it doesn’t bother me.

“They’re talking about not playing in front of fans until 2021. So if it’s not safe enough for fans to be inside a stadium why should it be safe for players to be in there?”

More than 33,000 people have died in the United Kingdom due to the virus.

Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford